Trans Fat and Testosterone: Guide to Avoiding the Unhealthiest Fatty-Acid

It seems to be in general knowledge that trans fatty-acids are extremely unhealthy and should be avoided. With that being said, most people still don’t really understand what they are, and which bodily systems they affect.

Hence, why in this article, you’ll learn about the following topics:

What are trans fats?

Why are trans fats unhealthy?

Trans fat and testosterone production.

How to avoid exposure to trans fats.

Without further introductory ramblings, let’s get started:

What are Trans Fats?

In 1901, a German chemist by the name of Wilhelm Norman, invented a way to hydrogenate cheap liquid oils, so that they become solid at room temperature.

Only a year after that, the hydrogenation process was patented, and in 1909 production of hydrogenated fats officially started.

It took only 2 years for the process of hydrogenating liquid oils into solid fats to land in the US, and in 1911 P&G acquired the hydrogenation patent, and quickly started manufacturing partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil with the tradename; Crisco.

The hydrogenation process itself is fairly simple: The raw oils (usually soybean, cottonseed, safflower, corn, or canola) are hardened by passing hydrogen atoms through the oil in high pressure with the presence of nickel (which acts as an alkalene catalyst for the process).

As an end result, some of the unsaturated molecules in the raw oils become fully saturated (and therefore also solid at room temperature). However, due to the demonization of saturated fat in mass-media, the hydrogenation process is often continued only to the point where the required texture is reached.

Now you might be asking yourself, what the heck has this got to do with trans fats?

The answer is: everything. The hydrogenation process flips some of the molecular “carbon-carbon” bonds into “trans” bonds, effectively creating trans-fatty acids. And when the hydrogenation process is completed only to the point where the optimal texture is reached (but not full hydrogenation), high amounts of trans fatty-acids will remain in the end product.

Bottom line: When cheap vegetable oils are hardened – or partially hardened – by the hydrogenation process, trans-fats are formed and they tend to remain in the finished product, which is now called as: hydrogenated vegetable oil, partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil, hardened vegetable oil, partially-hardened vegetable oil, or margarine.

NOTE:Trace amounts of naturally occurring trans fatty-acids (CLA and vaccenic acid) can also be found in some natural animal-fats, but these are not to be concerned about, since research has shown that they are perfectly healthy, and don’t poses the same adverse health effects as the synthetic man-made trans fats do (study, study).

Why are Trans Fats Unhealthy?

There are plenty reasons to consider trans fats unhealthy.

Firstly, not only do they lower the “good” HDL cholesterol, they also increase the “bad” LDL cholesterol, and blood triglyserides (study).

Not to mention the fact that trans fats cause systemic inflammation in the body, which increases oxidative stress, promotes cortisol release, and hammers testosterone production.

There are some studies about this too. It’s been noted that a diet high in trans fats, reduces testosterone levels and sperm quality in male rodents (study) and humans (study, study, study).

How to Avoid Trans Fats

Health-wise, it’s best to keep your industrially made trans fat consumption as low as possible, and this can be easily done by eating real food, not processed and packaged crap.

Not a big surprise to see that the biggest trans fatty-acid sources in the modern day diet come from the processed foods of big manufacturers. This is because partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils is cheap, it alters the structure of the oils so that they can be better used for deep frying and the like, and it increases shelf-life…

…All of the above, benefit the manufacturer, but harm the health of the consumer.

Here’s a short list of common foods filled with trans fats:

industrial vegetable oil shortenings for baking and confections

margarine and vegetable oil spreads

fast-foods, especially: Burger King, McDonald’s, and KFC

potato chips (not all, but some)

store-bought pies and piecrust

cookies, cakes, cake mixes, and frostings

some brands of ice cream

non-dairy coffee creamers

muffins and doughnuts

microwaveable ready-meals

NOTE:The list on trans fat containing foods could go on for days, since its extremely popular to use them in processed foods, due to the fact that it makes production cheaper and shelf-life longer. And even though some products are labeled as “trans fat free”, the FDA still allows them to contain up to 0,5 grams of the bad stuff.

Bottom line: Processed foods and fast-foods are notorious for being high in man-made trans fats. Consume real foods with real all-natural ingredients, and you don’t have to worry about them. It’s as simple as that.

Conclusion

Man-made trans fats are completely unnecessary for humans, they only benefit the manufacturers banking account, while simultaneously hammering the consumers health.

Trans fats offer nothing to the consumer, but can cause cardiovascular disease, inflammation, and lowered testosterone levels. There’s simply no place for them in the human diet.

It’s great to see that even the FDA has finally waken up to the facts, and is now banning all man-made partially hydrogenated fats from American foods by 2018.

Couldn’t have written this better myself. I’ve been avoiding trans fats since before it was cool to avoid trans fats, anything that’s man-made can’t be too good for you, right? 🙂 Anyways, keep up the good work, brother. I’ve been going through the site and I have implemented some of your strategies to try and boost my T naturally, we’ll see how it goes.